Catching up with… Chris Ahrenkiel

How did you wind up in real estate in Atlanta?

Photo credit: Daemon Baizan

I’m German by origin and I moved to the States with my parents when I was 11. I did my undergrad at [the University of] Georgia, and during two of those summers I sold encyclopedias door to door. Doing that job, you run your own business and learn a lot about rejection. One of the people I sold books with started working for a startup tech company. This was pre-2000, before the dot-com bust. I was hired and worked there for three years. I always had this itch to get into commercial real estate. I would look at the skyline and think, “This is amazing art, created by a person.” It inspired me to go to night school at Georgia State to pursue an MBA with a concentration in commercial real estate.

What did Leadership Atlanta change for you?

Leadership Atlanta changed my whole mindset and trajectory. It reshuffled my thinking about what’s impactful. I thought, “This city has been good to me. How can I give back?” Since graduating [Leadership Atlanta] I have remained actively involved, and about four years ago, I joined the board. Now I am the board chair. It helps bring different sectors together. We can’t all be exposed to everything, but you can have trusted friends in, for example, your Leadership Atlanta class who are in the criminal justice system or are doctors or journalists. They can share their perspective and because you trust them, you actually listen to them, as opposed to applying your confirmation bias. It’s so important to have all points of view.

Why is civic and board service such a big part of your life?

After I graduated [Leadership Atlanta], one of my classmates, Eloisa Klementich, who is the CEO of Invest Atlanta, brought me on [its] board. I served on Invest Atlanta for eight years and got to know the Atlanta mayors elected during that time. It’s a small board, and we made major decisions relating to community and city and focused on affordable housing and the unhoused. I am so very grateful for my time there. Another board is the Atlanta Commercial Board of Realtors where I am immediate past president. ACBR is such an impactful organization. Our fundraisers benefit five local charities – nonprofits and not necessarily real estate related – that just do good work and where our dollars make a difference. We’ll actually go out on Saturday mornings and we’ll cook for homeless folks. I’ll bring my kids. We often look at the homeless as a group of people, a category. But when you look them in the eye, you make a connection and see they are human beings, just like you, and just have had unfortunate circumstances.

What do you tell young professionals about success?

When I arrived [at Cushman & Wakefield], one of the first things I started was a Mentoring Monday session with the 80-85, as we call them, Cushman & Wakefield future leaders. I tell them, find something you’re passionate about and find something that breaks your heart. And then get involved. Because that’s what fulfills [a person]. That’s part of what’s so special about Leadership Atlanta. It has a collection of roughly 80 people in every class with every single industry, race, gender represented.

What’s top of mind for you in Atlanta’s commercial real estate market right now?

Two things come to mind. The first is going to be AI, because it’s everything people talk about. Without a doubt, there will be a disruption in most industries with AI. And we think it’s likely an accelerator of the economy. Then the second thing – and to me it feels like with this administration, especially – we’ve had so many different obstacles thrown at us. It was the Ukraine war. Then last year it was tariffs. Now, the Iran/Middle East war. So there has become a new level of what is acceptable chaos. When there’s chaos, you know business decisions get paused because there’s uncertainty. But now it’s like people are saying, “I’ve got to run my business. And I know the level of acceptable chaos is now here, because something’s going to be chaotic.” So it feels like in pretty much every asset class there’s improvement. And that means improvement in the real estate market.